A nurse who raised his voice at a patient and told them to “get on with it” when having a blood test will be suspended.

Gavin Paul Sandy, who was a paediatric nurse in West Sussex, was the subject of a fitness to practice hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council after complaints were raised about his conduct from December 2018 and between August 2019 and May 2020.

In the misconduct hearing, which took place over several months this year, 11 witnesses gave evidence in private.

A list of 15 charges were made against him, ten of which were either wholly or partly proven.

In August 2019, Mr Sandy did not take any action to de-escalate a patient’s concern about a blood test.

He grabbed their arm and “behaved inappropriately”, the panel found, when he told the patient to “get on with it” in relation to the blood test.

It was also proved that in November 2019 the nurse said that a patient “would not be walking like that if he was in pain”.

The nurse also said “you just aren’t getting it are you” to the patient.

Barrister Laura Paisley presented the case in the hearing, which concluded on Friday, December 8.

The panel was chaired by Avril O’Meare who was assisted by Michael Duque, a registered panel member, and Jan Bilton, a lay panel member.

It found Mr Sandy’s fitness to practice “impaired” and that his “actions fell significantly short of standards expected of a nurse”.

Ms Paisley added: “Mr Sandy’s misconduct related to multiple incidents and patients and involved young patients, their carers and/or families.

“His misconduct demonstrates that he failed to be candid and transparent when he went wrong.

“The panel has public interest at the forefront and the sanction imposed must be proportionate”.  

The panel decided to make an interim suspension order for a period of 18 months at the hearing which was held in Mr Sandy’s absence.

This means Mr Sandy will have his registration suspended and cannot practise while this is in place.

The hearing had previously heard that Mr Sandy no longer works as a nurse and "does not wish to return to nursing".